Главная > Реферат >Остальные работы

Сохрани ссылку в одной из сетей:

Korean Domestic Violence Essay,
Research Paper

Korean Domestic
Violence

A 48-year old
Korean woman, mother of two sons, has been living in Los Angeles for
seven years now. On the evening of July 15, 1997, her husband comes
home late at night from his financially shaky liquor store in East
LA. He is tired and frustrated from the deception of an American
dream once promised to him eight years ago. A small negative remark
by the Korean woman causes the husband to unleash several strikes to
her face with his open hand. She sustains several bruises on her face
and a bloody nose, yet she says nothing and accepts the punishment as
if it were inescapable event. She goes to sleep that night angered at
herself for causing the outbreak and despaired with the fact that she
will be offered no guarantees of safety for the next day.

Spousal abuse
has been a consistent problem in American society. A general survey
has shown approximately 4 million cases of domestic violence had
occurred in America in one year. Among those 4 million, 95% of the
cases are reported to be women. (Ho Kim, 1999, pp.5-7) The common
emphasis is on America as a whole, but the situations of Korean
American women have been seriously overlooked until recent times.
Underneath the vague statistical lines, several contributing factors
mark a great difference when approaching this problem. The cultural
background and pressures of acculturation into the American culture
have left Korean women as “legitimate victims” and have also left
them with even smaller avenues of escaping abuse.(Agnew, 1998, p.2)

The national
statistics reveals that domestic violence is one of the leading
causes of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44.
(Mehrotra,1999, p.16) There has yet to be a distinct number of
domestic violence surveys on Asian Americans alone. The few surveys
that have been conducted recently show dramatic numbers.

In
Massachusetts, Asians made up 18% of the victims killed as a result
of domestic violence in 1997 but comprised only 3% of the state?s
population. In California?s Santa Clara County, a report of showed
that Asians accounted for 33% of domestic violence related deaths
from 1993-1997 while Asians made up 14% of the county?s population.
(Ho Kim, 1999, p.12)

In addition to
the few surveys, the indirect facts of shelters and family counselors
show the height of the problem. According to Vijay Agnew of the
Center for Pacific Asian Family, the Asian Women?s Shelter in San
Francisco turns away 75% of women who need their services due to lack
of space. (Agnew, 1998, pp.8-10) Yet, many of these statistics are
grossly misrepresented due to the subjects? conscious effort of
underreporting. It is difficult to understand that the average Korean
American battered wife will not report their case to another agency
outside the family. Uncovering the details of the cultural background
in which they are isolated to can see the perspective of the Korean
wife.

The Korean
immigration to the United States under went their third and largest
wave within the past three decades. A majority of Korean American
families that reside here in the coastal areas are first generation
immigrants. What is important to realize about this first generation
is their unwillingness to compromise their strong traditional values
and norms. The great majority of both wives and husbands adhered to
the traditional role patterns brought over from the old country. (Ho
Kim, 1999, pp.14-15)

The social
status of Korean wives has had strong implications for domestic
violence in the family. A Korean wife plays a subservient role to the
husband and is considered to be a “possession” to the husband.
(Huisman, 1996, p.9) Their roles are clearly defined as the husband
being the breadwinner in the family and the wife remaining home to do
the household chores. Cultural myths, folklore and religion all
reflect an image of women as second class citizens. The traditional
value of a “good wife” is a wife who will be loyal, obedient and
unquestioning to the husband. (ibid.,p.10)When looking at today?s
Western standards, this can only be seen as barbaric, but the
consistency at which Korean immigrants retain such values is strong.
A large reason as to why a family would hold on to their traditions
is because of the difficult acculturation process. The differences in
lifestyle and beliefs from the Asian culture to the Western culture
are so drastic that it is easier to grip what is familiar rather than
adapt to what is foreign.

The Korean
culture, just like many Asian cultures, do not encourage violence but
instead accept physical forms of discipline. When dealing with
relationships, intimacy and expression are frowned upon. This lack of
intimacy allows violence and abuse to seep through into the cultural
norms. These Korean wives come from a culture where there is an old
saying that a bukuh (a kind of dried fish) and a wife must be beaten
once a day. This saying makes an analogy of the wife being beaten for
her disobedience as to a dried fish being beaten for its preparation
as food. When a wife is found beaten, it is understood not only by
others but also by the wife herself that she has deserved the
beating. (Ho Kim, 1999, p.17)

The self-esteem
and individualism for these women has been taken away by the society
to such an extent, that the woman believes she should not anger her
husband into violence. Korean women have endured the physical abuse
involved in this society and the immigrants have brought this to the
table of the Korean American culture. These norms extend into the
individual mentality of the women causing an even further acceptance
of domestic violence.

Tong Ho Kim
conducted an interview with ten Korean American women and ten Korean
American men who had battered their partners. In this study, he was
able to reveal the mentality of Korean women in an abusive
relationship. Almost all participants reported that they had
experienced substantial gender discrimination as children. However,
all of the men indicated that they thought such stereotyping and
discrimination was the way thing “should be.” (Ho Kim, 1999, p.3)
Further, most of the women participants also felt that such
inequality in the household was acceptable. This highlights the fact
that Korean-American women still generally hold traditional cultural
beliefs devaluing the role of women. Why wouldn?t the Western culture
influence the mind of a Korean American wife, and why does the
traditions remain so strong so far away from their home country?

The transition
from one society to another society has become a huge obstacle for
many of the immigrant families from Korea. The acculturation process
has indirectly sustained a large number of domestic violence cases.
The families that immigrate to America are usually a nuclear family
consisting of the husband, wife and children. Families in Korea are
somewhat of an extended family and in this extended family the elders
do not agree with repeated incidents of physical disputes between the
husband and wife. When the Korean nuclear family is isolated as it is
in America, the husband can often beat his wife without any
resistance. There is also the greater dependence that the wife will
have to the husband in a foreign environment. The husband as stated
before is the breadwinner of the family; the wife who is usually
uneducated and unskilled becomes economically strapped to the
husband. The Korean wife is essentially isolated to remain in her
designated family. She has great difficulty with the language and
this would deter her from seeking any form assistance from outside
the home. But before the wife can even begin to think of escaping the
abusive relationship, she first considers her own cultural binds. The
Korean society discourages divorce or separation, where the negative
effects would fall upon the wife. She is thought to have lost “face”
to the family, brought a sense of shame, because not only has she
lost responsibility to the children, but also she has failed to
please her husband. (Abraham, 1995, p.4-6) Although the women are
usually physically and emotionally tired, they still feel obligated
to fulfill their “duties” as Korean wives. (ibid., p.11) The
Korean culture lacks the quality of individualism and expression,
therefore the empowerment of women is a distant issue and often
unimaginable.

The existence of
the domestic violence issue among Korean American family has become a
shared topic among the entire Asian American community. There are an
increasing number of studies by sociologists, psychologists and
family therapist that acknowledge the relative difference in handling
battered wives in an immigrant family. New programs are evolving
where they address a unique set of issues ranging from language and
cultural barriers to getting help for immigrants and overcoming fears
of deportation by abusive partners. Asian females such as Carole
Ching, youth project coordinator for Sacramento-based Asian Resources
Inc., and Beckie Masaki, executive director and co-founder of the
Asian Women?s Shelter, are taking the initiative, pioneering programs
that will heighten the awareness and educate the community on
domestic violence. (Agnew, 1998, p.5) There has always been a great
need to aid the battered wives in the Korean American community; it
has just been a stubborn process in opening the doors of the issue to
this strong traditional culture. Kimberly Huisman stated that the
solution would come once the entire community acknowledges that
domestic violence exists within itself.

The story told
in the introduction comes from a personal experience of my own. My
own mother being of first generation has fallen into the category of
a battered wife. I never recognized how different and how grave the
situation was for her. I soon realized it was not my family alone, as
other Korean American children saw the same at their homes. As the
assimilation process continues with the Korean American families of
the first generation. There needs to be an open mind on what values
and norms to accept. For the most part, the sentiments have been to
accept the old traditional ways, but this continuing cycle is too
devastating and senseless to ignore. With the understanding of the
traditional norms and values and the empowerment of women on this
issue, an evolution of new values and norms will help alleviate the
prevalence of domestic violence in the Korean American family.

Gelles, Richard
J. “Domestic Violence Factoids.” University of Rhode Island
Family Violence research Program. December 17, 1996. October 20, 1999

Похожие страницы:

For my psychology paper I chose to do Service ... but difficult to explain. Research on family abuse has, ... time to declare war on domesticviolence. Domesticviolence will always be a ... Sage, 1998. Swisher, Karin and Wekesser, Carol. Violence Against Women. Ed. ...

Telecommunications In Korea Essay, ResearchPaper INTRODUCTION Telecommunications is a tool providing ... the public order by inciting violence or other means (Won ... unreasonably disadvantageous to the domestic investor (Jeong 6). The Korean Fair Trade Commission ...

Reading In Logical Analysis Essay, ResearchPaper Ellison 1 A FEW ... person with a penchant for violence towards a family member or friend ... establishes to “insure domestic Tranquility, provide for ... Scott J. and Hess, Karen M. Constitutional Law for Criminal ...

Torture Essay, ResearchPaper Torture is one of the ... prohibited by the South Korean Constitution and other domestic laws and since ... mass demonstrations, riots, outbreaks of violence, killings, coup attempts, civil war ...

Asian Financial Crisis Essay, ResearchPaper The Asian Financial Crisis: Causes ... meltdown of the South Korean economy in December 1997 ... in terms of broad domestic and international financial interactions. ... the crisis hit, the violence of the outflow owed much ...